NYAH-Nyah West United are just one win away from breaking their 23-year premiership drought, with the Demons having registered an 18-point win over the Mallee Eagles in Saturday’s preliminary final.
The 15.14 (104) to 12.14 (86) result sees NNW United progress to this weekend’s grand final against Kerang, the club’s first senior grand final since 2016 – which was also against the Blues.
Seventeen-year old midfielder Ethan Curran etched his name into Demons folklore with a six-goal, best-on-ground performance that will long be remembered as one of the great individual finals displays.
Curran scored a goal in every quarter, including NNW United’s first and last goals of the game, but it was his three majors in the second term that helped turn the match, with NNW United going from a 16-point deficit at quarter-time to a five-point lead by the main break.
It wasn’t just his work in front of goals that stood out but also his defensive pressure, with Curran making two great smothers: one that directly resulted in his second goal and another which saved a Mallee Eagles goal in the last.
Although the Eagles had first use of a three-goal wind favouring the northern end of the Nyah Recreation Reserve, they were unable to truly capitalise on their first-quarter domination despite kicking the first four goals of the game.
Despite dominating around the clearances and in the inside 50s, Mallee failed to make the most of their momentum in the opening 30 minutes as they often blazed away going inside the forward 50, with NNW United defender Joel Walsh picking off countless errant Eagles entries.
Two red-time goals to Curran and Charlie Boulton reduced the margin 16 points by quarter-time, with the Demons slowly starting to get their outside running game going.
While NNW United struggled to move the ball into the wind, the Eagles had no such issues, with Harry Allen and Brent Macleod both prominent at the contest and Darcy McGregor breaking the lines.
But it was their forward-half disposal that continued to let them down as the Demons started turning the game in their favour.
With the game still very much up for grabs at half-time, it was NNW United who seemingly broke it open in the first 10 minutes of the second half, kicking three consecutive goals into the wind to open up a 23-point lead.
From that moment on it felt as though the Eagles were chasing the game, and although they ended the third term with five unanswered goals themselves, they still had just a nine-point lead at the final change.
It was through this period that the Eagles’ ability to win the contested ball shone through, with Jayden Post also swung to great affect, giving Mallee an extra marking target forward of the ball.
Post and Darcy Hourigan kicked three goals between them, with the key forwards troubling NNW United’s defence, but the question being asked heading into the final term was whether the Eagles had done enough to hold off the Demons in the final quarter.
History tells us they hadn’t, with NNW United icing the game with four unanswered goals in the final quarter, with full-forward Brandyn Grenfell cutting the margin to just three points one minute into the term.
Corey Daniels, who had been solid in defence, was swung forward and gave his team the lead six minutes into the quarter and the Demons never looked back.
It was far from a perfect last quarter, however, with NNW United kicking 4.8 for the term and leaving the door ajar by missing some gettable shots that would have iced the contest.
Unfortunately for the Mallee Eagles, they were unable to make them pay, kicking five consecutive behinds of their own with their season on the line.
Allen, McGregor, Macleod and Billy O’Meara could hold their heads high for the Eagles, along with ruckman Jai Middleton, who battled hard opposed to Blake Larkings and Alex Erlandson.
Along with Curran and Walsh, who were the two standouts for NNW United, it was inside midfield Ethan Saville and defenders Campbell Everitt and Corey Daniels who were the key contributors for the Demons.
NNW United will now face Kerang in this Saturday’s grand final, with Jordan Iudica (hamstring) the only concern ahead of the final game of the season.
